State Briefs 4/28/08

WATAGA – Investigators have determined arson was not a contributing factor in a deadly fire Sunday morning.

The Knox County Sheriff’s Department responded to a residential fire about 9:30 a.m. As firefighters from Wataga and Oneida-Altona fire protection districts battled the blaze, a body was discovered inside the home.

The victim, identified as Alberta J. Newburgh, 64, was found lying on the floor in the bathroom of the single-story home. Knox County Coroner Mark Thomas pronounced Newburgh dead at about 10:55 a.m. at the scene. An autopsy was scheduled for Monday.

The home was a total loss. The Red Cross was on scene to assist the family.

According to a news release from the sheriff’s department, KCSD investigators and the Illinois Fire Marshal’s office ruled out arson as a contributing factor but their investigation continues.

Galesburg Register-Mail

Girl faces charges after officials find ‘hit list’

ROSCOE – A fifth-grade girl faces disorderly conduct charges after Kinnikinnick School officials discovered a list of students’ names scribbled in her notebook under the title “My Hit List,” officials said Friday.

School leaders called Roscoe police about 1 p.m. Thursday after they spotted an unrelated drawing in the girl’s notebook that prompted them to search some of her possessions, uncovering the list, Cpl. Sam Hawley said.

Classes were uninterrupted Thursday, and officials contacted the parents of the students whose names appeared on the list, Superintendent Robert Lauber said.

There were about a dozen names on the list, Hawley said, including some of the girl’s friends.

Officials won’t release the girl’s name because she is a juvenile, protected by privacy laws. Lauber described the drawing as an “unflattering picture of another student.”

The girl, he said, faces disciplinary action, though he wouldn’t disclose her punishment.

Rockford Register Star

West Peorian allegedly stabbed for Obama T-shirt

PEORIA - A 27-year-old West Peoria man was stabbed in the chest and back after fighting with a group of men who were arguing with him because he was wearing a "Barack Obama" T-shirt.

The victim said he was walking about 4 p.m. when he was approached by a group of about four to five men. The men started arguing with him because of his shirt and attacked him. He said he fought back, but felt a sharp pain in his chest, saw blood and ran home.

The victim said he had not seen the attackers before.

He later drove to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, where he was treated for a stab wound about two inches deep in his upper chest. He also had a cut about two centimeters long on his back and several bruises.

Journal Star, Peoria

Downtown fight leads to three people stabbed

PEORIA - Three men were treated at a local hospital after getting stabbed during a large fight Sunday morning.

Police were called to Methodist Medical Center about 12:40 a.m. Sunday to talk to three men who came to the emergency room with stab wounds.

A 22-year-old West Bluff man said he was trying to break up a fight at Jefferson Avenue and Liberty Street when he was stabbed by an unknown person three times in the chest and twice in the back, according to a police report.

A 25-year-old East Bluff man also claimed he was breaking up the fighting mob when he was stabbed twice in each side of the abdomen. The victim allegedly drove himself and a
26-year-old Central Peoria man to the hospital.

That man, who was stabbed six times in the right torso, suffered a collapsed lung. None of the victims were listed at Methodist as of Sunday night.

None of the victims could identify their attackers, and police are investigating.